I've Always Known
by CowahBull
Summary: If there was a moment in the short life for Ronald Weasley for him to be fearful, it was this one.  "I said that I love you." Ron felt his Gryffindor Courage boiling in his blood as he fought not to stutter.


**-I've Always Known-**

_Ron/Hermione_

Tossing and turning was all he ever did now. The war was over yet he still found himself unable to close his eyes for fear of losing yet another part of himself. The nightmares had become a regular thing at the Burrow and there wasn't a night that someone didn't need to be woken and told that everything was going to be alright.

Ron finally gave up on trying to sleep and sat on the edge of his bed with his face in his hands, letting out a long sigh. He looked up from his hands to notice that Harry's camp bed was empty once again and silently wondered to himself how he didn't hear him heading to Ginny's room. Maybe he did sleep a bit that night but was so exhausted that he had simply forgotten about ever losing consciousness. "All this better be worth it," he mumbled, glad to have his sister with someone who wasn't a total git, but silently wishing this sneaking around would stop.

"All what is worth it?" Her voice coming from the doorway made him jump, reaching for his wand out of instinct before recognizing the voice as Hermione.

He never realized how much he had missed seeing her in the past few hours until he glimpse her obviously pained face. Ron rose from his bed to embrace his girlfriend before she even had a chance to say another word. Tonight must have been her night for waking up in a cold sweat, yelling in her sleep.

Hermione's only response to his embrace was a sob she seemed to have been holding in. "Harry's down in Ginny's room, I felt like I was intruding."

The small broken smile on her lips took another piece off of Ron's heart. He guided her to his bed and put the quilt over their bodies, as he had done nearly every night for the last month. Hermione wasted no time to snuggle her body against his once they were under the cover.

Ron kissed the top of her head as he felt himself drift back into that sleep he had apparently been in just an hour ago.

"We might as well ask Mum if there can be a change in sleeping arrangements around here," a small chuckle followed these words as Hermione continued. "Harry can have Bill and Charlie's old room, that way Ginny can have her own room back."

Ron felt his stomach do a funny little flip. "But then who would be rooming with me? I've started to get used to having a roommate."

"Well," Hermione began, faking a look of deep though, "I already practically live up here anyway." She lifted her head to look at the floor to find that there were at least three of articles of her clean clothes intermingling in Ron's pile of laundry. "And no one wants to listen to Harry's snores if they can help it."

This hint finally struck Ron. "Are you implying that you take Harry's bed?"

She nodded into his chest and let her eyes close. "More or less."

They fell into silence with only the light sound of their breathing. Ron tried to go back to sleep but found he was still unable.

"Mione?" His deep voice cut through the peaceful silence like a knife, he almost shocked himself.

"Hmm," she didn't even open her eyes as she continued to lay her head on his chest while he lay on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"I love you."

This time her eyes shot open and she lifted herself up to look over him. "Wh-what?"

If there was a moment in the short life for Ronald Weasley for him to be fearful, it was this one. "I said that I love you." Ron felt his Gryffindor Courage boiling in his blood as he fought not to stutter. Hermione's brown eyes changed from worried to positively frightened in a split second.

"Ronald," she gasped. "Wh-what br-brought this on?"

He shrugged, "it needed to be said."

"I don't want you to be offended when I tell you that I'm not ready to say it back, even if I do. It'll change our relationship completely, forever."

The redhead found himself not worried, even though in his mind he knew that he should be worried, but his heart knew he'd get it eventually.

"I mean, it starts with those three little words. No, _huge _words. Then before I know it, we'll be talking about marriage and houses and children, then their children and it's all so fast._" _She covered her face with a hand and pushed her hair from her eyes in a flurry. Ron smiled at her. "Ronald Weasley! Why are you trying to change everything between us? Aren't you happy the way it is? The way it has been for months now?"

Ron didn't say anything, just slowly shook his head at her.

"I thought I had more time to prepare myself for the next step."

"That just proves that you knew it was coming," he stated simply, faintly enjoying the worry Hermione seemed to have put herself in, knowing that he finally got his biggest worry off his chest. "I _have _been thinking about all those things for months. But that doesn't mean that I'm asking you for all that right now. I just wanted to tell you how I feel." He realized how dry his mouth suddenly got. "How I've felt for a long time."

Hermione laid her head back down on Ron's chest, unsure what to think of this. As she closed her eyes again, trying to go back to the slumber she had nearly slipped into before this interruption occurred. As her eyes closed she was showed a picture of a little girl and boy playing on a rug in a large sitting room with Ron floating their blocks into a stack while Hermione fussed over the dirt that smeared across the girl's nose. The image burned into her eyelids as she opened them once again to see Ron sleeping soundly on his side with his arms around her middle.

"I love you, too Ron," she whispered while kissing the tip of his nose and lying back down to sleep.

"I already knew that," the whisper almost passed into the silence as they both finally went to bed.

* * *

A/N: So I have had this story running through my head for at least 3 weeks now and I'm proud to say that it ended up very similar to how I thought of it originally... which is a rare thing. This might actually be the first time that's happened ever.

Anyway. I hope you enjoyed it and please Review!


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